Pari Nizhny Novgorod vs Zenit. Preview

This Friday, October 24, the Blue-White-Sky Blues will play an away game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod. The match will take place as part of the 6th round of the regular season of the VTB United League. The official Zenit website provides more details about the upcoming clash with the Volga side.

Opponent

Nizhny Novgorod worked well on the transfer market this summer, significantly refreshing their roster: new foreign players and several Russian athletes have joined the team. At the same time, the core of experienced players has been preserved.

For St. Petersburg fans, one of the most interesting acquisitions of Pari NN is the loan of Zenit guard Semen Burinskiy — a product of the Zenit Basketball Academy, who has already made his debut in the VTB United League, though he has yet to score his first points.

The beginning of the season has been challenging for Sergey Kozin’s team. After a home victory over BETCITY PARMA in the opening round (73:69), Pari NN suffered three consecutive defeats — losing away to CSKA (86:77) and Loko (93:78), as well as at home to MBA-MAI (66:89).

From a statistical standpoint, it’s worth noting that the hosts commit the most turnovers in the League (an average of 17.8 per game) but rank second in free-throw accuracy (84.4%, only UNICS has a higher percentage — 85.7%).

Head-to-head

Throughout their participation in the VTB United League, the two teams have faced each other 30 times. The Blue-White-Sky Blues hold a clear advantage — 22 wins to 8 for the Volga team.

Direct speech

Zenit head coach Aleksander Sekulic shared his thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s matchup:

There are many things that we need to be aware of and be careful. We play against opponent who play good basketball, they were a little bit unfortunate. They have also some injuries like we do and it's always tough court to play.We are also struggling a little bit with injuries. We should try to find therhythm so it's gonna be for us very important how we start the game to be determined to play our way, the way we want to play, especially defend good their transition and their main players. So we need to start with defense and finish with defense.

Who. Where. When.

Opponent: Pari Nizhny Novgorod

Location: Nagorniy Arena, Nizhny Novgorod

Date: October 24, 19:00 (St. Petersburg time)

Broadcast: Okko Sport, VTB United League website, VK Video